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NSW Government delivers Open Data policy

Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance has released the NSW Government’s first Open Data Policy as part of a commitment to improve the way government agencies interact with customers.

Mr Constance made the announcement during an Open Data Forum held in Sydney.

“We want to transform government through IT over the next ten years by better utilising mobile apps and social media, improving the way we interact with customers,” Mr Constance said.

“Open data is at the heart of open government and we have developed a principles-based approach to the way public sector agencies provide access to their information.”

“We have engaged with the community, industry and the research sector to deliver a policy that drives transparency, accountability and better service delivery to the people of NSW.”

“Importantly, it will support the development of new apps using government data to improve access to services like public transport's real-time updates.

“We are making more data available through the State’s central data portal - data.nsw.gov.au, by piloting federation with the Commonwealth, Queensland and South Australian data portals, enabling easy access to their datasets from data.nsw.gov.au.”

Mr Constance said the NSW Government is supporting these initiatives by implementing an open access licensing framework to make it easier for agencies and those who use the data to understand and apply open licences.

“AusGOAL, the Australian Governments’ Open Access Licensing Framework, provides a system by which Government can make appropriate licencing decisions to allow the reuse of data and information in new and innovative ways by the community,” he said.

“Applying this framework will also make it easier to share information with other jurisdictions.”